Once Upon a Time.....
Memories of the 50s and 60s.
Once Upon a Time…in Milford, CT
No, this isn’t a Disney story. It is not made up. It is the essence of my childhood during the 1950s and 1960s. It was a time when there were active farms in town. When boys and girls recited the Pledge of Allegiance in the classroom every morning. When parents had no idea where their children were after school but knew they would be home by the time the street lamps came on. A moment in time without cell phones, the internet, and the only information resource was the dictionary and the Encyclopedia Britannica.
When I was growing up on Elizabeth Street, I had no idea I was living in a world that would someday disappear. To me, it was simply life. It was baseball games in vacant lots. It was bicycles leaning against front porches. It was lunch boxes, baseball cards, yo-yos, and summer days that seemed to last forever. It was neighbors who knew each other, children who disappeared outdoors for hours at a time, and a community that somehow felt both large and small.
Years passed. The houses remained, but many of the people did not. The stores changed. The schools changed. Entire neighborhoods evolved. The world that once seemed permanent slowly faded into memory. Yet the stories remained.
I Remember Elizabeth Street is not a history book. It is a collection of memories from a time and place that shaped a generation. Some stories are funny. Some are touching. Some are simply moments that have stayed with me for more than sixty years.
If you grew up in Milford during the 1950s or 60’s, I suspect many of these memories will feel familiar. If you didn’t, perhaps they will offer a glimpse into a childhood very different from today’s.
In the end, this book is not really about Elizabeth Street. It is about all the streets we remember and all the carefree moments of our childhood that can never be lived again.
— Jamie Boss